KIZUNA { aya ueto fansite }

# Biography

2004

In January 2004, Aya was casted to play the role of Oka Hiromi in her first ever live action drama, "Ace wo nerae!", based on the comic of the same name, which was a huge hit. Aya recorded the ending song for the show, "Ai no tameni." which was written by Tetsuro Oda, famed for catapulting talents such as Nanase Aikawa to the top of the charts. The single rank No.6 on the Oricon Charts and was an instant hit. The sells numbers surpassed her highest selling single "Pureness" released back in 2002. A month after the release of "Ai no tameni.", her 2nd album "MESSAGE" was released and also ranked No.6 on the Oricon Album Charts.

The next single to be released was the double a-side "Kaze/okuru kotoba" and ranked No.8 on the charts. The main track "Kaze" was used as the ending theme for the ever popular anime "Nintama Rantarou" and the coupling track "Okuru kotoba" (Tetsuya Takeda cover song) was used as the theme song for the PS2 Gamesoft "3 nen B gumi Kinpachi Sensei" based on the drama in which Aya won her way into stardom in 2001. The single was accompanied by a DVD including the video clip for "Kaze" and a special image clip for "Okuru kotoba".

Following "Kaze", she released her 9th single on July 28th, "Afuresou na ai, daite/Namida wo fuite". The title track, "Aufresou na ai, daite" was used for the LOTTE "Soh" Ice cream CM and "Namida wo fuite" was used as the theme song for the Animation movie "Konjiki no Gash Bell! 101 banme no mamono". Also in July, Aya was crowned "Nattou-Queen" alongside model Aiko Sato.

In September, Aya emerged as the new CM queen, overshadowing other talents such as Matsuura Aya and Kikukawa Rei, as she was advertising products for 10 various companies. According to advertising agencies from Japan, her contract price rose from 30 million yen to 45 million yen in 2004. Aya was given a birthday bash on the 14th as she launched the release of a new photo book shot in Hawaii, "natural". Aya too back her role as Oka Hiromi in the TV Asahi drama "Ace wo nerae!" for a 2-hour special episode. She also started the shooting of NHK's taiga drama "Yoshitsune", also featuring starlet Takizawa Hideaki, in which she was casted as Utsubo in January.

In between CM shootings and live appearances, Aya managed to release her 10th single in November, 'Usotsuki" was released on the 17th. It was the first single since "Ai no tameni." to capture the same atmosphere found in previous singles such as "Pureness" and "kizuna". It came in two versions, CD+DVD and CD only.

In December 2004, Aya quickly released her 3rd album intitled "Re." on the 8th. Aya also starred in a new movie "Install" based on the best-selling and award-winning novel by Wataya Risa. After a week of sickness, on New Year's Eve, Aya performed for the first time at the prestigious musical show "Kouhaku Utagessen".